Supporting Alignment and Accountability in Community Health Improvement: The Development and Piloting of a Regional Data-Sharing System
/The purpose of this project is to develop and field test a set of online tools that support the comparative review of specific elements of publicly available reports from tax-exempt hospitals, local health departments, and other local community-based organizations. The online tools comprise what is referred to in this report as a Community Health Improvement Data Sharing System (CHIDSS). The project builds on a three-year series of convenings and inquiry focusing on the improvement of community health improvement practices. The projects have been implemented by the Public Health Institute in collaboration with the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI) through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with a focus on the improvement of community health improvement practices.
The focus of this project and the tools and templates that have been developed is on the assessment, planning, and implementation processes by hospitals, local health departments, United Way organizations, Community Action Agencies, community health centers, and a broader spectrum of stakeholders in the community health improvement process. The intent and the opportunity is to leverage the transparency provided by the new reporting mechanisms for tax-exempt hospitals and to encourage the full spectrum of stakeholders to ask questions and provide voluntary leadership that will directly contribute to the advancement of practices.
The CHIDSS tools are intended for use by a broad spectrum of potential users, including a) organizations engaged in assessment and planning, b) community stakeholders who seek engagement in community health improvement processes, c) private sector agencies at the city, county, and state-level with oversight interests, d) academic institutions and research organizations with an interest in the advancement of knowledge and e) media organizations interested in community health improvement and the contributions of institutional stakeholders.